I recently came across the Blackbaud State of the Nonprofit Industry Survey 2007. There are a number of interesting factiods in this survey, which was conducted late last year.

An overwhelming number (80%) of respondents saw an increase in demand for services -- and 77% also saw an increase in revenue. Interestingly, however, only 47% reported increasing staffing. I would be curious to see what types of productivity gains were in place in these organizations.

An additional point of interest is the increasing "donor demand" for accountability and transparency for their organizations. 92% of respondents have implemented audited financials, and 80% communicate proactively about program impacts.

Finally, "showing impact" was rated as important by 92% of respondents, but only 64% reported that they did this very well. Competing with other non-profits was not a major issue for many respondents (only 15%).

What this exhaustive survey says to me is that the Balanced Scorecard could prove very useful to organizations that are trying to increase accountability, show impact, and "do more with less."